Baked Malaysian Coconut Chicken Curry

I love curries with lots of vegetables, and the Malaysian Kari Ayam (Chicken Curry) mainly uses potato and chicken. Feel free to add any other vegetables that you like! I have used French green beans, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, baby Thai eggplants, pea eggplants, baby sweet corn, and they were all great!

1. Cook your rice while you are making the curry. Then, using a good-sized saucepan or nonstick flat-bottomed wok, heat up some vegetable oil until the pan is good and hot. Lower the heat and put the galangal, shallots, lime leaves in and fry for a minute or so to release the oils and flavours.

2. Add the curry paste. It’s best to start with a teaspoon if you’re a curry novice, and work your way up to the right heat for you. It’s far easier to add spicy heat than it is to remove it! If it’s too hot, you can temper it with a spoonful of brown sugar. Fry the paste for another minute.

3. Add the chicken pieces and coat the chicken in the paste well.

4. Pour the tin of coconut milk in and stir it well until the curry begins to change colour from white to yellow.

5. Add the potatoes and leave to simmer with the lid on at a low heat for 25 minutes.

6. Add any other fast-cooking vegetables now, stir and let them cook for 5 minutes. If you want to bake the curry to finish it off, do not cook the vegetables in the curry. Turn off the heat and then add the vegetables.

7. Taste the curry now and if you want more flavour, add any fish sauce or lime juice now. One small lime is plenty, or about 1 tablespoon of fish sauce will be enough, as fish sauce is extremely salty. Stir in the shredded coconut.

8. Put hot rice in an oven-proof casserole dish and spoon the curry on top. Brown under a hot grill or bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 200C before serving.